The Prophecy, The Priest, and The Key
by dkerr
Summary: The power of the Key is needed to stop a prophecy from happening
1. Willow's brother

Disclaimer Only the characters that are not part of the BTVS show are mine. All others belong to Joss Whedon, and Fox.   
  
Title The Prophecy, The Priest and the Key  
  
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"Okay," Xander tossed his translation on top of the table. "We can't all be right. Let's start all over again. Mine says that the hero guy was crucified and is still walking the earth. I'm thinking it didn't happen a couple millenia aga."  
  
"Mine said he was trained in the Synagogues of Jerusalem." Willow looked up from her translation. "But Tara's says he studied at the Great Mosque at Mecca."  
  
"To say nothing of the Monasteries in Italy, Bhutan and Tibet."  
  
"It would seem that our person has a well rounded education wher it concerns the world's religions." Giles looked around the table. "Though it doesn't help in determining who our Blessed of the Lord is."  
  
"Well whoever he is, he isn't going to get his hands on Dawn," Buffy declared. "I don't care what the prophecy says."  
  
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"Hey Willow?" The next morning Willow was heading for her second class when Paula appeared almost out of nowhere. "You didn't tell me you had a brother. Pretty much a hottie, to bad he's a Father."  
  
"Huh?" Before Willow could come up with a better reply Paula was gone, disappearing into the crush of students. To be replaced by Buffy.  
  
"What was this I heard about a brother?"  
  
"I don't know," said Willow. "I don't have one. She must be mistaken."  
  
Buffy shrugged. "Well, I gotta get to psych. See you at lunch."  
  
"See you." Willow headed for the computer labs. She never gave another thought about Paula's strange words. Not until after she met Buffy, and headed for the cafeteria."  
  
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I crashed into the wall, biting my lips, to hold back a scream. This was no backwater village in the middle east, but the pain was real, the spikes through my wrists and feet, the thorns in my head, I could feel them all over again. I slid to the floor, as fire lanced through my side.  
  
"Buffy," someone screamed and suddenly two faces separated from the crowd, a reddish blur through the blood.  
  
"Are you okay, of course your not, or else you wouldn't be bleeding all over the place. Where does it hurt? Buffy I didn't see anything, did you? Why are you wearing a dress?"  
  
"Not a thing. Will someone call the Infirmary. Will, it's a cassock, not a dress. He's a Priest, or a Monk."  
  
I felt hands lifting me, and I was placed on a moving platform, and rushed down the hall. Vaguely I could see white suited nurses running beside me, while the I could hear the two others coming up behind.   
  
The pain hadn't lessened, though there wasn't that searing pressure on my lungs.  
  
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"Er, precisely where was he bleeding." Giles rubbed at his glasses.   
  
"His head, wrists, side and feet." Buffy looked at Giles. "But there was no reason for it, it was lunch time, we were headed for the cafeteria, students all over the place, no one was fighting, then he goes crashing into the wall, like he was in great pain, and starts bleeding all over the place. Which was weird because there was no reason for it."  
  
"Then what happened?"  
  
"Then we called the Infirmary, where he was taken, called you, and went to our afternoon classes. Then we went to the Infirmary to check up on him, but he'd already been sent to the hospital. End of story."  
  
"Perhaps not the end."  
  
"What?"  
  
"The Blessed of the Lord. The wounds you describe sound very much like the ones Jesus suffered on the cross."  
  
"You think he was?"  
  
"I really don't know. There have been cases of stigmata, where otherwise healthy people would suffer such wounds for no known reason.'  
  
"I've heard of them," exclaimed Willow. "Wait," she looked puzzled. "If it were stigmata wouldn't his hands be bleeding?"  
  
"Perhaps, but if he were crucified, and the wounds were reminiscent of that, then the wounds would be in the wrists. Nails might have been hammered through the palms of his hands, but the bones would never have held his weight. No, I'm afraid he would have been tied, or supported by spikes driven thriugh the wrists, at the junction of the two bones that make up the forearm."  
  
"You know this because?"  
  
"It was a common enough form of punishment for victims, er their bodies, to be found."  
  
"So, you're saying he could be our crucified man."  
  
"We would need more information before we could determine that. Starting with his name."  
  
"Nathaniel Ira Rosenberg." Xander took a seat at the table and grinned at the looks on the other's faces. "What, I can't have knowledge. Just because I don't go to college?"  
  
"No, that's not it," protested Willow. "It's just that you usually aren't the one to come up with the answer."  
  
"Well, surprisingly enough, this time I did." Xander shrugged. "It's a start."  
  
Willow moved to her computer.  
  
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"We really didn't need to have that happen." Sister Maria Sanchez descended the steps into the Rectory's basement, where we had set up a den - work area. "Especially not out in public."  
  
"Really?" I took the proffered cup and sat back. The cup held a blend of teas that Sister Maria learned soothed the pain achy feelings that always followed such episodes. "I can't think of a time when I ever needed that to happen."  
  
"Tough," she grinned at me. "This is one time I can truely say better you than me." She smiled. "Too much a wimp."  
  
"not a wimp," I assured her. But this is not the time to discuss aches and pains with me. You'll find no sympathy here."  
  
She smiled, remembering a time when she had done just that. Shortly after losing her only child to leukemia, and taking vows.  
  
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"Father Nathaniel Ira Rosenberg, Order of St. Francis." Willow had pulled up a student record, complete with picture. "Transferred from New York State. Born 1980, date unknown, place unknown, parents unknown. Next of kin, Father Blackwell, St. Ignatious Parish. That's where he's living."  
  
"There's a lot not known about that boy." Xander peered at the screen. "Here's one, he's a Priest. Aren't they usually old, er older, guys."  
  
"That's cause people aren't going into the Priesthood as much as they used to. But it does seem that he is rather young."  
  
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"Father Rosenberg." Mrs. Carlisle, the housekeeper stomped into our den, every inch indignant. "You have a visitor. Upstairs."  
  
Having delivered her message, and fovoured Sister Maria with a patented scowl, she really didn't approve of the disruption the two of us had brought into her staid and serene life, she turned and headed back up the stairs.  
  
I shrugged at Sister Maria, who said she would continue with the maps.   
  
Upstairs, I was led to the sitting room, where a red haired girl was waiting, sitting on the sofa. She stood as I entered.  
  
"Father," she said tentative.  
  
"Call me Nat," I told her....  
  
"She can call you Father," rumbled a voice behind me. Father Blackwell shuffled into the room, and grabbed the remote. "No respect. Calling a Priest by his name, and you inviting her to do it. No respect at all." He glared at me, transferred it to Willow, and back to me. "Well not here. Not while I am Pastor." He aimed the remote at the television set. "You can take your visitor down stairs, where Sister Maria can play chaperon. I'm going to watch tv."  
  
I shrugged and grinned conspiratorially at the girl, while motioning for her to follow.  
  
Sister Maria was hunched over the table, and turned when we got to the bottom of the stairs.  
  
"This is Sister Maria Sanchez, and I'm afraid I don't know your name."  
  
"Uh, Willow, Willow Rosenberg."  
  
"Okay, Sister Maria, this is Willow, Willow Rosenberg."  
  
Sister Maria sent me a give me strength look, and smiled at Willow.  
  
"Pleased to meet you." She paused. "You know, you look a lot like Father Nat."  
  
"So I've been told." Willow cast a fast look at me. "Which is what I was wondering, if, since the names are similar, and my father's name is Ira, which is your middle name, if there was a, um, relationship."  
  
I postponed the question by going to the fridge and pulling out three sodas. Sister Maria frowned at me, but said nothing, just taking hers, and watching as I passed one to our guest. Popping the tab on mine, I sat down in my favvourite chair.  
  
"Could be just a coincidence." I looked at Willow. "Do you have reason to think we are?"  
  
"Well no, and it could all be coincidence, and we do look alike, you heard Sister Maria, and there is the names thing..."  
  
"Speaking of names, how did you know my middle name is Ira?" I raised an eyebrow. "It's not something I tell everyone, especially not before I meet them."  
  
She grew flustered.  
  
"I bet you hacked into the school's computer."  
  
She stared at me. "What makes you think I did that?"  
  
"Because," I grinned, "Outside of this building, and the University's registrar, nobody knows what my middle name is."  
  
"Don't mind him," chimed Sister Maria. "Father's got computers and hackers on the brain. You should get him to show what lengths he gone to keep his stuff away from hackers."  
  
"Another time. As for your question, while it may be possible but not probable. Unless you come from Italy."  
  
"You're Italian?"  
  
"Well, I was raised in a Monastery there. You see, I was left on the Monastery's door step when I was a little over six months. Instead of being placed in an orphanage, the Brothers asked for and received permission to keep me in the Monastery."  
  
"Oh. But you don't know who your parents were or where you were born."  
  
"No, I don't. I do wonder about them, and have asked. The Brothers just told me that I was left in a basket, anonymously. The bell was rung, and there I was. I did have a bracelet with my name on it. Other than that, nothing."  
  
"Oh, okay." Willow stood, and looked around for a place to put her half empty can. "I'll go now, sorry to bother you. Uh," she looked at me, "Could you tell me what happened, you know, the other day in the hall?"  
  
I smiled. I was wondering when this question was going to be asked. "A rare disease. Don't worry, its totally non-contagious."  
  
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"Hope you enjoyed your visit, Miss, er, Rosenberg. Leaving now?" Father Blackwell met us at the top of the stairs. "Father Rosenberg can drive you home."  
  
"Oh that's okay, I'll walk."  
  
"It's after dark, and if you haven't noticed, people tend to disappear after it gets dark around this place. Father will drive you."  
  
"Oh, that's because of..." Willow clammed up, hoping that Father Blackwell hadn't caught what she was saying. He may have, but I didn't. She looked flustered. "I really got to go."  
  
"As you should," Father Blackwell spoke as if he hadn't caught the slip. "It's late" He looked at me.   
  
"When you return, I wish to see you in my office."   
  
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"Hey Will," Buffy looked up and smiled as Willow made her way into the danger room. "Missed you at the Bronze earlier."  
  
"Uh, yes." Willow sat at her usual place behind the computer. "I was at St. Ignatious."  
  
"Is he?"  
  
"Is he what?"  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Is Father Rosenberg your long lost brother?"  
  
"Oh, er, no, I don't think so anyway." Willow told Buffy what happened. "I'm just going to drop it. I'm destined to remain an only child."  
  
"Keep looking, there's a chance." Both girls looked up to see Xander standing in the back doorway. The more we know about him, the better."  
  
"Oh," Buffy winked at Willow. "Pray tell, why would we want to know more about him?"  
  
Xander stared at Buffy and then rolled his eyes. "Am I the only one that thinks its not a coincidence that we should be researching a prophecy the 'Blessed of the Lord,' who we don't know all that much about yet, and the Key, who we do know, and who should pop up but Father Rosenberg, who's way younger than most starting Priest, and who had his own special Ordination ceremony, by no less than the Archbishop, just before coming to Sunnydale."  
  
Buffy glanced at Willow, then stood up, facing Xander. "How would you know this?"  
  
Xander returned Buffy's gaze. "Because I checked, or rather I phoned Angel Investigations and they checked with the Diocese there."  
  
"You talked to Angel."  
  
"I talked to Wesley." Xander waggled his eyebrows. "Anyway, the Diocese had this special Ordination for Father Rosenberg, who only wanted to be a Franciscan Monk, not a Priest. And get this, most Priests belong to some order or other, and Father Rosenberg's no different. He's still with the Franciscans, but he was attached to The Office for the Succession of the Faith, which in earlier days used to be known as the Inquisition."  
  
"You may not think so, but I think he's up to something."  
  
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"That girl could be trouble." Father Blackwell sat behind his desk, glaring at the door when I came in, from driving Willow to The Magic Box, where she had wanted to go. "She pops up where ever there's a bit of trouble."  
  
"She seems to be a nice enough girl." I took the facing chair, and leaned back into it. "Remarkable how much she looks like me."  
  
"Good reason for that." Father Blackwell poured a double shot of scotch into a glass, and placed it before me." "She's your sister."  
  
"What???"  
  
"Twenty years ago, every sign pointed to you being the Blessed of the Lord. We were agreed that you needed a a specific kind of education, that you wouldn't have gotten if we had left you with your family."  
  
"What right did you..." I was so stunned I couldn't go any further. I took a gulp of the scotch instead.  
  
"None whatsoever, but what choice did we have. If you were the Blessed of the Lord, and you did not recievve the right education, would we beable to stop this?"  
  
"That made it right, so I could get the education you wanted me to have."  
  
"No it was not right, just necessary." Father Blackwell slumped in his leather chair, warming his scotch in his hands. "I spent twenty years in this Parish, knowing what goes on each night. Twenty years of keeping the Sanctuary open at night, so that the people, regardless of their religious persuasion, had a safe haven to come to. Twenty years of wondering if we did the right thing, if you actually could help put a stop to it."   
  
He slumped further into his chair, and for he first time, I saw him, not as the autocratic Pastor of St. Ignatious, but as a tired old man, who'd borne more than his fair share.  
  
"If this works, I can stand more time in purgatory. But what am I going to say if I'm called to accounts for making the wrong choice."  
  
It would have been so nice to stay angry. To blame everything on them, and walk away. It might even have served them right. The stakes were high. Silence fell over the room, as I contemplated the amber liquid. I sighed, and placed my glass on the desk. Was there ever really another choice?  
  
Besides this was a question that tormented me from the Monastery in Italy, where I'd been raised, in the Monastery in Bhutan, and in all the Mosques, Synagogues, and places of worship I had gone to for instruction. It needed an answer.  
  
"You will say that you did the best you could under impossible situations, and you have done what few other men do. I have seen you open wide the doors to the Sanctuary inviting in all who would shelter there, despite their faith or lack thereof. I have watched as you knelt and prostrated yourself before the altar. You are not a young man. What more could you have done?"  
  
"I could have spoken out, warned them."  
  
"Would they have believed you?"  
  
"No. Such things don't fit into their lives, so I watched and I prayed as the people died."  
  
"Surely, your efforts saved some."  
  
"Perhaps." Father Blackwell sat up straighter.   
  
"You certainly are understanding. Most would be angry over what we have done."  
  
  
"I am angry, I probably will be for a long time. It might not have been a wise thing to tell me."  
  
"Willow Rosenberg, though I have little opportunity to see her, is an intelligent young lady. More so than most. She would have figured it out eventually, and probably at the wrong moment. That would have been more upsetting. "  
  
"A distraction you can ill afford."  
  
"Okay, so I won't tell her, until this is over, and hope she doesn't' find out otherwise."  



	2. Xander's secret is revealed

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"Giles, I've been having these funny feelings all day, like something's going to happen." Buffy sent another powerful blow into the bag, and sent it swinging madly. "Like there's some big bad coming, and there's going to be this big fight, and I want to help but I don't who to help. Or how to help, even if I did know."  
  
Giles mentally tabulated the cost of a new punching bag. This would be the third in the last few months, and he was beginning to wonder how he was going to afford to keep replacing them.  
  
It does seem like that, doesn't it. However, I'm sure that once we know what is happening, and can pin point the location, there is something that we can do about it."  
  
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"Come, it is time."  
  
I glanced up to see Lama Dorgi standing in my doorway, behind him, Sister Maria watched. For once, she was dressed in the full Habit, frightened wide eyes staring out from under the wimple. The shadowy night of her clothes a stark contrast against the reddish and saffron robes of the Lama.  
  
I wore a simple white cassock.  
  
Lama Dorgi smiled. I'm sure it was meant to be reassuring and encouraging ones, but it added to the nerves and the fear I was feeling. My life had been trained on this, and I was an arrow aimed and primed. So why was I feeling like the edges were dull, and ...and... And I would do my best, and though the opposition might win this night, we would be stronger the next time.  
  
It would be easier if we had the Key.  
  
"You will do fine, and we will be with you." I looked startled. I had always believed the first battle was mine alone. "In spirit, in prayer, if not in fact." He clasped a comforting arm across my shoulders.  
  
"The Chapel is ready," Sister Maria told me. "Father Blackwell has already gone to the Sanctuary and Rabbi Thompson is there, and so is Imam, oh I can't pronounce his name, and Reverend Thompson. "  
  
Like many old churches, St. Ignatious had a small more private Chapel, behind the main sanctuary. It wasn't used much, but Mrs. Carleson and Sister Maria had spent the day cleaning and dusting, and polishing, along with a small army of monks, until the floors and the windows and the mahogany of the pews gleamed under the candle light.   
  
In the center of the room, a space had been cleared.  
  
I knelt in front of the alter, and said a short prayer before taking up my position in the center of that clearing Seated in the lotus position, I took two cleansing breaths, blocking each nostril in turn. I closed my eyes, and began reciting the Twenty-third Psalm.   
  
Lama Dorgi touched a hand to Sister Maria's shoulder. "Come," he said gently, his voice almost above a whisper. "Let us join the others."  
  
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"Its happening." The punching bag sailed across the room to crash into the far wall.  
  
"What's happening," Willow jumped up looking around wildly. "Where's it happening?"  
  
"I don't know," raged the Slayer. 'But its something big, and its not here, and its on every nerve I got."  
  
"Buffy, er , this isn't going to help." Giles came out of his office. "Until we know more, there is nothing we can do. We don't even know where its happening, and if you tire yourself out, you won't be able to do anything if we do."  
  
"I know, I know, its just that I feel so helpless."  
  
"Maybe if I tried a spell..."  
  
"No," screamed Xander as he fairly flew through the door. "No magic, no mojo, no nothing."  
  
"Xander, what are you talking about?"  
  
"It's round one, not the main event which we've been focusing on, but it's probing, and if we meddle, go off half cocked we could end up passing ammunition to the baddies."  
  
"Xander," an out of breath Anya burst through the door. "There is something going on at St. Ignatious, like you said. They got a Priest, a Rabbi an Imam and some funny guy in reddish orange and yellow robes. And there's these guys in black robes all over the place."  
  
"An all party prayer-fest thing." Xander turned to the others. "That's where it's happening."  
  
"Xander,, " Buffy shouted. "We...."  
  
"Xander, she's not going to listen to you. She never does."  
  
"Anya," protested Willow. "Buffy just needs to be..."  
  
"No she's right." Xander stared into the Slayer's eyes. Then he broke off and sprinted for the door. "C'mon Anya, it just you and me."  
  
"Xander! Damn, he's going to be so sorry the next time we meet." Buffy spun around and kicked at the fallen bag. "Just wait until I get my hands on him." She turned back to the table. "Willow, can you try that spell now."  
  
"Er Buffy, what if that was the break we were looking for."  
  
"Giles, Xander? I mean, he's good at digging out answers, once he's been told what to look for, and he's good for a back up, when we know what we're up against and it doesn't seem too dangerous. Speaking of going off half cocked, he's an expert at it. No, we need more definitive. Willow, that spell thingie."  
  
"But what if he's right? I mean he can be, some times."  
  
Buffy glared around the room, Slayer eyes moving from witch to watcher. "Then she flung up her arms.  
  
"Okay, we'll go check out this church. But if nothing's going on, you're going to owe me big. Both of you."  
  
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St. Ignatious was a massive stone edifice, located on the eastern side of Sunnydale, away from the Magic Box. Giles Porsche pulled up a block away, and the three, plus Riley, who had joined them as they were coming out of the store, walked the remaining block.  
  
"Okay, we're here. Now what?"  
  
"Well, we cold ask one of them," Willow suggested nervously. She was starting to feel nervous, what if Xander was wrong after all.  
  
"Oh sure, that'll go over real good." Buffy, stared across the street. "Well something's going on."  
  
Even in the dark, it was possible to make out the figures on the lawn, surrounding the church. Every once in a while, groups of them would pace along the walls, patrolling.  
  
"What are they watching for?"  
  
"Us, do you think?"  
  
Willow looked behind her, and then scrambled back at the sight of the vampires grinning at her. "Er, Buffyyy."  
  
"Kind of busy here," came the response, as Buffy suddenly found herself the center of a swarm of vampires. Both Giles and Riley were equally busy.  
  
Willow back pedalled fast, while frantically searching her bag for her cross and a vial of holy water.   
  
"Down girl."  
  
Willow shrieked as she was suddenly grabbed from behind and shoved roughly to the ground. She screwed her eyes shut, waiting, and when no thing happened, opened them to the sight of black robed men wailing into the vampires with flashing quarter staffs.  
  
"Thanks for the assist," Buffy snarled as she ducked a staff meant for a vampire not her. "Might help if you hit your target, not me."  
  
The young Monk said something in a language she didn't understand, then screamed as a piece of wood emerged from his chest.  
  
"Oh great," muttered Buffy as she quickly dispatched another vampire. "Things are just getting better and better."  
  
Fighting swirled around the church as a seemingly endless army of vampires poured out of the surrounding streets. Buffy, along with the monks were pushed back towards the building, and she lost contact with her friends.  
  
Two massive arms grabbed her, on either side, and before she could react, she was being hauled backwards up rough stone steps, and into the Sanctuary. For the first time in over two decades, the doors were slammed shut, and heavy bars, laced with crucifixes, were placed across them.  
  
Buffy was released, and sat up from the floor where she was dropped. "I would really appreciate it if someone told me what's going on here."  
  
"Buffy over here." She looked to see Giles sitting in a pew a few feet away. She hurried over, to see Willow, bathing Xander's bloody face.  
  
"Well, you were right, Xander, there is something going on here, be nice if you told us what it is."  
  
"Tell me girl, are there any more of you out there? Need I send any more of my people to their deaths for those equally as stupid?"  
  
Buffy turned, to see almost a wall of black cloth, under the scowling face of a black bearded monk. Somehow, she didn't think it was fat covered up by the black cassock. Nor did she think his disposition was as kindly as that of Friar Tuck.  
  
"I don't suppose you'd care to fill us in on what's going on around here."  
  
"I am Brother Michaud. I ask you to go remain with your friends, until it is safe for you to go."  
  
"Now listen, " Buffy reached out and grabbed a fistful of black cloth, and pulled down, bring the monk s eyes down to a level easier for her to look at. She was about to say something, when something flashed before her eyes, and everything blacked out.  
  
"Take her to her friends." was the last thing she heard.  
  
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Xander looked up to see the Slayer standing over him and groaned. It was a conversation he knew was coming, and one he dreaded having. Made all the Sooner by Sister Maria's announcement the the Blessed of the Lord wouldn't be able to see them until this afternoon. Willow, Riley, Giles and Anya drew closer. He wasn't worried about Anya, too worried about the others, but Buffy would go off half cocked and assume that he'd been holding out on her.  
  
"How did you know what was happening here last night. We've been researching for days, and didn't have a clue."  
  
"I have my sources Buff, and I've been researching too."  
  
"Sources Xander, what sources? As for researching, you've been rather scarce around the store."  
  
"I haven't been exactly welcome around there."  
  
"You haven't been told not to come around."  
  
"Buffy, I'm not an idiot. You think I haven't noticed the sudden silences when I enter the room, the shielded looks, the quick subject changes when I try to find out what's going on, if I can help."  
  
"You do help."  
  
"Sure, you throw me a few crumbs, research, or allow me to go on patrol if you don't think it'll be too dangerous, or i'll get in the way."  
  
"We were trying to keep you safe. Is there anything wrong with that?"  
  
"No, there wasn't, er, isn't." Xander had to agree with the logic behind that. "As far as it goes, but I can't not be part of this, and I need more than just circling around the edges. I'm not so stupid to think I can do it alone, and I knew I wasn't going to get any more with the scoobies."  
  
"So what did you do?"  
  
"When the Watchers Council offered me a job, I took it."  
  
Though he had expected it, Xander was still surprised with the speed his shirt was grabbed and he was hauled out of his chair.  
  
"You what," Buffy snarled at him. "After what they did to me, to Angel?"  
  
Xander lost it completely. Almost without thought, h brought his arms up between Buffy's, and broke her grip. Taking the advantage of the momentary surprise, he shoved hard, sending her over backwards.  
  
"Xander," squeaked Willow, surprised at his audacity.  
  
"You just don't get it do you." Xander raged down on the surprised Slayer. She had started to get up, but the approach of a group of quarterstaff armed monks persuaded her against it. "This has nothing to do with you, or Angel.  
  
"This has to do with me, what I need, and I need to be part of this, and I'm not getting anywhere with you."  
  
"You could take the hint," Buffy snapped. "Leave the fight to those better able to fight."  
  
"I tried that, I left after graduation, remember?"  
  
"You came back."  
  
"Yes I came back, because I couldn't stand the thought that I had gotten out while my best buds were putting their lives on the line. I didn't like the me that would run out, on you, Willow, Giles. I felt like I was turning my back on Jesse, Ms. Calendar, Principal Flutie, even Snyder, who was pretty much a bastard, but didn't deserve to be eaten by a snake. So I cam e back, I need to like the person I see in the mirror every morning."  
  
"So you came back. You didn't have to go running to the Watchers."  
  
"I need to know, before I die, that my life meant something. Something more than the occasional bit of research, the odd patrol, the feeling that you'd rather I was elsewhere. Which was all i was getting from the scoobies."  
  
"Well bully for you. But we're through. You don't come around the Magic Box, or me ever again. I won't be spied on."  
  
"They don't need me to spy on you, and they aren't asking me to."  
  
"What do you mean..."  
  
"I mean they keep pretty much up to date on you, and aren't stupid enough to think I wouldn't be biased."  
  
"What I said still goes."  
  
"Buffy, no," protested Willow.  
  
"Willow he.."  
  
Willow felt light headed. She was being forced to make a decision. Between her two best friends. She didn't know what she was going to do.  
  



	3. Willow's dilemma

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"Why didn't you tell us?" The blonde was half out of her seat,as I entered the dining room, where they were all assembled around the table. I spotted the empty seat at the head, beside Sister Maria, and the steaming coffee cup there.   
  
"Tell you what?" I ignored the fact that she was out of her chair, and moving, and sat down, grabbing the coffee. Usually I creamed and sugared it, but this time I needed the heat.  
  
"Oh I don't know," she said. "How about the fact that you're the Blessed of the Lord. We've only been researching for a week now."  
  
"Nobody told me." Okay, it wasn't the brightest of answers, but I had been totally drained when I came out of the Chapel this morning. I'd had four hours sleep, when I needed sixteen to completely recover, and I really wasn't in the mood for witty repartee.  
  
I speared her with an eye." Let's see, you are Buffy Summers right?"  
  
She nodded, reclaiming her seat.  
  
"You were involved with two murder investigations, one of which you admitted to committing, the other, well let's say they believe you with held pertinent information. You burned down the gym of your first school and are strongly suspected of having something to do with the explosion at your second. You are believed to be behind several b&e's, there's even a note about you escaping lawful custody after damaging a police vehicle. Hardly the type of person I'd walk up to and say 'Hi, I'm the Blessed of the Lord."'  
  
"If I were disposed to do that sort of thing."  
  
"But you're not denying it," Willow shot at me.  
  
"Is there a reason why I should?"  
  
"Er, this might go better if we try not to let ourselves be distracted." I glanced at the Englishman, whom I now knew as Rupert Giles. "It appears that we are striving towards the same end, and we might best pool our efforts."  
  
"What end would that be."  
  
Giles looked at me, considering for a moment.  
  
"The Blessed of he Lord will drive back the Legions of Hell, but without the powers of the Key, he will not succeed."  
  
"So, you know of the prophecy, and my part in it. What is your part in it?"  
  
"We have, er, formed a fighting unit , we do try to keep a lid on the evil that goes on here. Surely, being who you are, you are aware of the Hellmouth, and the Slayer."  
  
"I know that Sunnydale sit atop a Hellmouth. As for the Slayer, I understand she is in this area, and would perhaps be an asset. I was also told that she was somewhat unreliable. I was not told who she was."  
  
Giles looked at Buffy, who nodded, and turned back to me.  
  
"Buffy Summers, here, is the Slayer."  
  
"And she is not unreliable." Willow wanted to make sure I knew that.  
  
I said nothing while Brother Michaud set a bowl of porridge in front of me, refilled my coffee cup, and refreshed their drinks, from the mess of plates, they had eaten earlier. While he was doing so, I whispered into Sister Maria's ears, and she nodded.  
  
"What did you just ask her," Buffy asked suspiciously.  
  
"Sister Maria has a very good memory for conversations. I wished to make sure she was getting this one."  
  
Buffy didn't look pleased, but said nothing.  
  
"Perhaps, if you could tell us a little about yourself."  
  
I swallowed two spoonfuls of unsweetened porridge while I considered the problem. If she was the Slayer, this Buffy Summers could be a help, but if she followed her own agenda, as I had been led to believe, could I really trust her, and through her, any of them. I decided to take a leap of faith.  
  
I laid everything on them.  
  
I described my first eight years in a monastery in Italy, followed by an equal number in a Monastery in Bhutan. Followed by two and half years divided between Jerusalem and Mecca. Then back to Rome then to the Diocese in LA, where I was raised to the Priesthood, shortly before coming to Sunnydale. Finally, I described my part in the prophecy."  
  
"But you haven't found the Key yet, have you?"  
  
"Yes." Sister Maria aped at me, and I thought Buffy and Giles looked worried. "During last night's meditation, I discovered the identity of the Key, and her location."  
  
"Well you won't have her," Buffy said, determined, cold. "That's never going to happen."  
  
I looked at her, caught her eyes.  
  
"Then you condemn the world to an eternity of Hell, and the one who will suffer the most is the Key."  
  
------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Buffy, Xander's not with us." After our discussion, the Scoobies, as they called themselves, went off to a corner to caucus among themselves. Xander, feeling persona non grata, stayed away, though clearly, he wanted to get in .on the discussion. This made Willow very upset, and she just didn't know what to do about it." "Don't you think he..."  
  
"No I don't," snapped the Slayer. "He made his choice and he'll have to live with it."  
  
"But he..."  
  
"Look, can we focus on the matter at hand."  
  
"Er Buffy, I think we need to settle this, we can't be disunited. Not at a time like this."  
  
"What, we are united. You, me, Willow, Riley. Let him go off with the Watchers if he wants to."  
  
"We do need to settle this," Giles glanced at Xander, sitting at the table. "I must say, I never knew he felt that way, perhaps I should have." He re-focused his attention. 'However that may be, it is a distraction, and one we can ill afford."  
  
"Well, I'm not distracted," declared Buffy. "If he wants to be with the Watchers then let him. We don't need him."  
  
"But I do," whispered Willow.  
  
"Willow," Buffy spun on her, " you heard what he did, and you know what they did to me and to Angel. Harris never liked Angel, that's probably why he did it."  
  
"I know what they did, and what he did," Willow shouted, surprising both Buffy and Giles. "I want to help you and I want to help him but I can't help him without hurting you and I can't help you without hurting him and you're my friend and he's my friend and and and I just don't know what to do..." The last word was almost a sob.  
  
"Willow,,,,. She'll get over it, won't she Giles?"  
  
"Yes, she will," Giles sat on a convenient chair. "For a time."  
  
"For a time? Giles what do you mean?"  
  
"Willow is an intensely loyal person, and by excluding Xander, you are forcing her to choose between him and you."  
  
"But,,,. she will choose me, won't she?"  
  
"It is probable that she will, she has grown rather closer to you, putting more distance between her and Xander. However, Xander is her childhood friend, as well as her first love. Those are powerful influences, and we cannot discount the possibility that she will choose him over you."  
  
"So what am I going to do?"  
  
"That is something you'll have to figure out, and soon. It would appear thet they have the situation well in hand, however should we need Willow's abilities it would be helpful if she were not distracted by this situation between you and Xander."  
  
Buffy looked to where her best friend was curled up on the floor, leaning against a wall. "Okay, okay. He's still part of the group. But when he's working with us, he follows orders, mine not theirs."  
  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
"What about the Key," Sister Maria demanded. While the Scoobies, minus Xander, had gone over to a corner to discuss the situation among themselves, we had remained at our places, watching the proceedings. It wasn't lost on either of us, the reluctance with which Buffy had re-invited Xander into their group. She had had some harsh words to say, he merely nodded, and followed. "And the Slayer's refusal to let us have her."  
  
"I can't see anything we can do about it, not to mention my own reluctance to endanger the life of a fourteen year old I think we will have to continue with plan B, and find some way we can get around this without the Key."  
  
"But the sooner we have it, er her, the sooner she can be trained, and the better our chances of success."  
  
"He Key could be trained in five days to a week. Longer would be better, but it gives us time to find an alternative. If no alternative presents itself, then we can discuss the Key. If it is still refused, then we shall do the best we can. One thing is certain, we shall not live to suffer the consequences."  
  
"Oh, you've got it all planned out haven't you, going to try and make me feel guilty, so I'll hand over the Key." Neither of us had seen Buffy come up. "Well that's not going to happen."  
  
I raised an eyebrow. "Now there's a plan I hadn't thought of. It is nice to know that it won't work, so I won't have to waste time coming up with it."  
  
Buffy glared at me.  
  
"Was there something you wanted?"  
  
"Yes," Buffy looked disconcerted for a while. "I want to know what you're planning to do about this prophecy thing. You and Giles should be able to come up with some sort of plan, so you won't need the Key."  
  
"I am willing, at least, to see if he can come up with some new ideas."  
  
"Look, if you want our help, I'd think you'd be a little more appreciative."  
  
I stared at her.  
  
"You have the one piece of help that could, very probably, turn this into a success. You have already stated that that help isn't available. Without that help, I'll be going up with little or no hope for success. What other help can you offer?"  
  
"Well, I, we've been up against this kind of thing."  
  
"Yes you have, but never on this scale. The Slayer fights in the physical realm, and perhaps, the ones adjoining it. This battle will cross realms you can't hope to reach. For one thing, you don't have the energy. Only the Key can provide that level of power."  



	4. Buffy's dilemma

-----------------------------------------------------------  
  
Buffy?"  
  
"I don't want to hear this Giles."  
  
"I'm, er, afraid you must. We've spent a week searching for another alternative, and have failed in that. We won't stop looking, but she may be our only choice, and the longer we wait the ess chance we have for success."  
  
" Well keep looking, there has to be another way."  
  
"Actually, there is."  
  
"Xander what are you doing here?"  
  
"We've been looking for another means of beating this without using the key, but not much about why they wanted the key. So I looked in that direction, and had the Council search their libraries. Apparently, she's like a battery, stored up energy, but not just ordinary energy, but the kind that's released when a soul leaves its body. They figure that about five hundred people would have to die to replace the key."  
  
"Those are the kind of people you want to work for."  
  
"Hey, you wanted an alternative I gave you one. Nobody wants it to happen. But you might want to think about what happens when this all goes to hell."  
  
"That's all I've been thinking about," Buffy screamed. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "This is gonna kill my Mom."  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------  
  
THUD THUD THUD THUD THUMP  
  
Willow was greeted by the noise as she entered the Magic Box, and found Giles behind the counter, instead of in his office. Where he usually was when Anya was on duty, which she was now, staring glumly ahead of her.  
  
"Giles, is everything all right."  
  
Giles looked up from the book he was trying to read. "Of course Willow, its just that Buffy seems rather perturbed and doesn't want to talk about it."  
  
"If I got pepper sprayed in church, I sure wouldn't want to talk about it."  
  
Willow looked around to see Xander come into the store. "Xander what are you talking about?"  
  
"Only the juiciest piece of gossip to hit Sunnydale in, well I don't know when, but a long time anyway. Some crazed woman ran into St. Ignatious and started dragging a screaming teenager out of the Confessional. Father Rosenberg popped out of his side and got her right between the eyes."  
  
"How do you know it was Buffy?"  
  
"I didn't. Not until a very pissed Slayer's Mother roared into the construction yard where I was working, and told me in no uncertain terms to move my sorry ass and find her errant daughter. Doesn't anyone answer the phone around here?"   
  
"Er, where is Mrs. Summers now?"  
  
"Off buying pepper spray."  
  
Giles hid his face in his arms.  
  
"It was Dawn," Willow guessed. " Dawn went to Confession with Father Rosenberg, and Buffy stopped it?" Willow shook herself. "But that doesn't seem like her, and why would that make Mrs. Summers so mad?"  
  
"Well, she had these two important showings coming up at the gallery, big name stuff, shows she spent a ton of money promoting and getting ready for. Well they were co-sponsored by the Catholic Women's League and they weren't too thrilled when they heard the news, and ..."  
  
"They didn't?"  
  
"They did ... poof."  
  
"Are you through discussing my business?"  
  
Buffy's face was red, especially around the eyes, which were still streaming. There was no disputing the fact. She was furious.  
  
"It was Dawn and she was telling him that she was the Key. How can I keep her safe, if she keeps doing things like this."  
  
"Maybe if you'd talk to her..."  
  
" I just want her to live a normal life for as long as possible."  
  
"Not going to happen Buff." Xander almost flinched as the slayer eyes were turned on him. "She's different and she knows it, and she's going to find out how different. If you don't tell her, then her only option is finding things out on her own, and who knows what she's going to run into, maybe even when you're not there to protect her. Take it from one who knows, keeping her safe and not telling her things don't add up to the same thing."  
  
"Why don't you mind your own business Watcher boy?"  
  
Buffy stared at Xander, then her shoulders slumped.   
  
"Okay, okay, I'll talk to her, but first, I guess, I gotta go talk to my Mom."  
  



	5. The Key begins her training

---------------------------------------------------------  
  
"It was late evening as Lama Dorgi and I climbed up the front porch of the Summers residence and rang the bell. It was opened by a scowling Slayer, who ushered us to the living room, where Brother Michaud and Sister Maria were waiting, along with the other members of the Scooby gang as well as Mrs. Summers and Dawn.   
  
It would be our first council of war together, and neither group was happy. The Scoobies had held out for the Magic Box, where they would have the home advantage. We were insistent on St. Ignatious, probably for the same reason, but also because there would be another probe in a matter of hours. Mrs. Summers had offered the use of her house, raising new protests from Buffy, which, as far as I knew, went unheeded.  
  
I was not happy at the discord, but I had to make do with what I could.  
  
Lama Dorgi bowed slightly as I made the introductions.  
  
"This the one who's going to stay here," Dawn asked brightly, earning a sullen glare from Buffy, who looked ready to protest, but thought better of it.  
  
"With your mother's permission, and if you are truly committed to helping in this."  
  
"I am."  
  
Buffy's scowl deepened.  
  
I turned to Mrs. Summers. ""None of this can, or will, happen without your permission. If at any time you say the word, the proceedings will stop."  
  
"I'm only allowing this because I think you can help Dawn. If she has all this power, then she needs to learn how to control it."  
  
"Mom, we'll help her."  
  
"No, you'd just have Willow or Tara put a spell on me."  
  
"Dawn..."  
  
"I wouldn't..."  
  
"Oh no, you always do what Buffy wants you to."  
  
"I wish," Mrs. Summers interjected, "that I could be so sure. I believe that they would do the best they could for Dawn, but Buffy tends to take the most direct approach. I want Dawn to learn some control before that becomes necessary. Sister Maria has been talking to me, and I think you can help."  
  
Buffy glared at me.  
  
This really wasn't going as I would like it. I sighed.  
  
"The Blessed of the Lord will take the power of the Key into his hand, and shall throw back the legions of Hell, closing the gates behind them."  
  
"That's the prophecy, but how are you going to do it?"  
  
"By co-mingling my mind with Dawns, so she can pass on the energy I need to do what needs to be done."  
  
"How do you do that?"  
  
"Lama Dorgi here is an expert on meditation techniques. He will work with Dawn, and teach her to use meditation techniques, to tap into and control her power. It won't be perfect, an he has agreed to stay on in Sunnydale, after this is all over, and continue to work with her."  
  
"And this co-mingling of the minds?"  
  
That can also be done with meditation. It is difficult, but you can reach a level on which one mind can become aware of another. It took me almost a year of daily practise to attain that level."  
  
"But you don't have a year."  
  
"For the next while, Dawn's education will be focused on attaining that level. Her abilities to focus on that training will have to be intense, but I believe, er hope actually, that she'll be up to the task."  
  
"Maybe there's a spell or something that could help." Willow started to look excited. She missed the odd look Dawn gave her."You know, one that could help her reach the level."  
  
"See, and you just said you wouldn't."  
  
"There will be no spells placed on Dawn. Not for any reason."  
  
"Mom."  
  
"Willow," Mrs Summers spoke calmly, but with purpose. "I want you, and Tara, to swear, in the name of God, or, if you will, Goddess, and by everything you hold Holy, that you will never use magick on Dawn."  
  
"Willow, don't, Mom you can't mean it."  
  
"I do. If they will not swear, and mean it, then they are no longer welcome in my house, or anywhere near Dawn. If I have to, I will take her and move as far away as I can." Mrs Summers spoke calmly and with determination. Buffy knew beyond a doubt that she would. "I can't keep you safe, your the Slayer, but Dawn is not. I will do what I can to keep her safe."  
  
"Mom, we don't know what Dawn is, if we can't use magick, we may not be able to control her." Buffy's voice trailed off, horrified at the logic behind what she was saying. But she was right. She knew what was right. After all, she was the Slayer.  
  
"Is that what this is all about, control?" Mrs. Summers glared at her daughter.   
  
"Willow."  
  
"Willow, you can't." Buffy was desparate. She was sure she was right. She was also sure that once Willow had given her word, especially an oath, she would not break it. Not even for her.  
  
Willow glanced uncertainly at Buffy, then Giles, and then Tara. She had been surprised when Mrs. Summers had made the request, even more surprised at what Dawn had said. Giles gave the briefest of nods. Buffy looked ready to kill. Willow got up to stand before Mrs. Summers.  
  
"Willow, don't. Mom, we have to be free to do what we have to to keep Dawn safe. I mean, it's not like she..."  
  
"Don't say it," Mrs. Summers hissed at her daughter. "Don't you dare say that she's not my daughter. Those Monks did too good a job. To me she is my daughter, and I will protect her. If I have to, I'll protect her from you. Willow."  
  
Willow took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.  
  
"Before the Triune, the Mother and the Father, I swear that except in the direst of necessities, I will in no wise use magick to influence or impede, or otherwise affect Dawn in any way known to me. If this oath is broken, then may I stand revealed for what I am."  
  
"So Mote it Be."  
  
"Tara"  
  
Tara stood and repeated the oath while Buffy glowered at her mother.   
  
Mrs, Summers nodded, satisfied. "Father, please continue."  
  
"Lama Dorgi will be staying here, so he can work with Dawn in what ever time we have left. Other than that, there's really not much more that I can add, except that we will continue to try and find an alternative."  
-------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Father," Sister Maria gasped behind me. "They're leaking through."  
  
"What?"  
  
"They're probing."  
  
"What, who's probing."  
  
"I have to get back to the church."  
  
"No time, you'll have to fight here. We got the room ready."  
  
I glanced at Mrs. Summers."  
  
"Brother Michaud."   
  
"Yes Father."  
  
"Take Dawn, and the two witches, anyone who wants to go, to San Gabriel Mission. Lama Dorgi, please, go with them." I glanced at Willow. "They're probably probing for the Key. Do what you can to shield her."  
  
I turned to Sister Maria. "Let's go."   
  
  
We headed for the stairs.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------  
  
"How long can he do this?"  
  
Two days had passed after Buffy had stopped wigging, and the St. Gabriel group had taken that as the all clear signal and returned. I was still sitting in the Summers attic, which had been set up as a small chapel, still in a meditative trance.   
  
Lama Dorgi watched from a corner. "I have known him to go five days before awakening. He is weakened, and coming up through the depths is harder than going down."  
  
"And your going to teach me to do this?"  
  
"Yes, it is what you will need to learn."  
  
Dawn walked deeper into the room, and looked closely at the seated figure. "He's not breathing. You sure he's alive?"  
  
"Yes, he lives. But his breathing is so shallow, so slow, you probably just can't see it."  
  
"Could he die like this?"  
  
"If it is his wish, it is possible for him to enter into the state of death."  
  
"But he's not gonna do that. Is he?"  
  
"No, I don't believe that he will."  
  
  
"Oh." Dawn looked at me, then back at Lama Dorgi. "Will I be able to do that?"  
  
"It is something that can be taught. I would not teach it, unless I though one was ready to make that transformation."  
  
"Oh that's comforting." Buffy entered the attic behind them. "Sleeping beauty out of it? Nope, I guess not."  
  
"When are we going to start," Dawn asked Lama Dorgi, ignoring the frown Buffy sent her way.  
  
"Now if you will. Please, did Sister Maria not give you a package."  
  
"It had a white dress in it."  
  
"It is a cassock, like the one Father Rosenberg wears. Would you like to put yours on?"  
  
"Okay," Dawn scampered around Buffy to get to the doorway.  
  
"Magick," Buffy asked with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Atmosphere," replied Lama Dorgi. "I find, I cannot meditate without my robes, which I wear most of the time anyway. I suspect Dawn won't be wearing her cassock much, so I am hoping that she will use it to help discipline herself for meditation. A focus, if you will."  
  
"So what are you going to teach her."  
  
"Simple meditation techniques." Lama Dorgi launched into a description, which Buffy immediately tuned out.   
  
"How long is he going to stay like this?"  
  
"I don't know. He is weakened, but I think, in anther hour he will be conscious to this world."  
  
Dawn clattered into the room. Dark brown hair falling to her white covered shoulders. "I'm ready," she said breathlessly.  
  
"Dawn," Buffy tried to keep her annoyance out of her voice. "Are you sure you want to do this."  
  
"No." Dawn looked up at her sister, her eyes big, doe like. "I don't wanna do this, I rather it just went away , but it isn't is it?"  
  
Buffy shook her head.  
  
"I'm always gonna be this Key thing that others are going to want to control aren't I?"  
  
Buffy nodded, tears gathering at the corner of her eyes.  
  
"Then I gotta learn how to control this, before somebody else does, and I don't want anyone else controlling me." Dawn took a drrp shuddering breath. "Buffy please, I need you, and Mom, to help me through this, but I need you to let me do this. Please Buffy. Don't be mad."  
  
"Come here." The two sisters came together in a hug. "I'm not mad," Buffy whispered. "Just scared."  
  
"Me too," Dawn whispered back.   
  
They held the hug for a few minutes, before breaking apart. Even then, they continued looking into each other's eyes, until finally Dawn turned away.  
  
"Lama Dorgi?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Lets start."  



	6. The Finale

-------------------------------------------------------  
  
This one was for all the marbles.  
  
Dawn was scared. For the moment, she was in a small room with Buffy, her mother and Lama Dorgi. She had a rare courage for one so young, and our success tonight would be due in no small part to her contribution.  
  
So was I, scared, and my whole life had been focussed oon this moment.  
  
I defy anyone to be otherwise as we entered the Chapel at St. Ignatious. Sister Maria entered. When she was finished, she would join the others in the main Sanctuary.  
  
Father Blackwell was already prostrate before the altar.  
  
Everything was as ready as it would be.  
  
Sister Maria looked at me. "It's time," she whispered and left the room.  
  
Buffy and Dawn came through the door next.  
  
Dawn smiled shakily at me as she moved towards her spot. I returned her smile, and waited as she hugged Buffy one last time, before sitting on her cushions. It was necessary that our eyes were level with each other. Buffy closed the door silently behind her.  
  
I was able to keep track, fuzzily, with a portion of my mind, and the first depth was easy to reach. Two cleansing breaths in unison, and we were there. We were still aware of our bodies, and would be through the next few levels. But eventually, even that would pass.  
  
For the time being, we co-ordinated our breathing.  
  
Buffy entered the Sanctuary, being careful to avoid Father Blackwell, and sat beside her mother. "They've started," she whispered.  
  
Mrs. Summers nodded, a tear escaping. She had promised herself , she would remain calm, but this was the second of her daughters that she was losing to this fight. She wondered how may other mothers had to go through with this.   
  
Oh, she had listened while Buffy and Giles explained what Dawn really was, and how the Monks of Dagan had played with her mind, her memories. Made her think she had two daughters, instead of just one, like she actually had. As much as she loved Buffy, her real daughter, she loved  
Dawn, and was scared she would never see her again.  
  
"Buffy took her Mother's hand, as if she sensed what she was thinking.   
  
"She's gonna be okay."  
  
Candles flickered as we reached the fifth depth, and my perception of Dawn was that of an extremely bright light. Everyone's perception was different so I don't know how what her perception of me was, bright and dim. I sensed her keeping pace with me, as I began to sink even lower.  
  
  
  
"Buffy's starting to wig." Willow glanced at her friend, and saw how jumpy she was. "Think it's starting."  
  
Tara grabbed her hand. "Its going to be okay."  
  
Xander over heard that, but wished there was something he could do. He started praying every prayer he had ever learned when he was in Sunday School, and those few occasions he had attended church. He hoped that it didn't matter that he wasn't Catholic.  
  
Giles sat quietly beside Mrs. Summers. He had never felt more helpless.  
  
Lama Dorgi slipped into a meditation of his own.  
  
I was aware of floating in ether. In front of me, the brightness I saw as Dawn, and closing in on us, a huge red angry sphere.   
  
"Dawn," the word was thought not spoken, but directed at the brightness in front of me "Can you understand me?"  
  
"Yeah," came the response. "It's like I'm thinking your thoughts, not just mine. That big red thing is it..."  
  
"Yes. Now think of my mind as part of your mind, as your mind as part of mine. I will do the same."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Slowly, and delicately our minds came together, touched, mingled, became as one.  
  
"And the Blessed of the Lord shall take the key..."  
  
The Dawn that was me and the me that was Dawn watched at the ether around us filled with the angry redness, and reached deep down inside ourselves."  
  
"They've been in there a long time." Anya looked queerly at Xander. "What are you doing?"  
  
Xander didn't stop to answer.  
  
The evil struck first. Trying to force a wedge between us. We were expecting it, but even so, we were hard put to drive out the wedge, that had almost fulfilled its task. We reached even deeper, and the Dawn that was still her began the process of willing open the vast stores of energy  
that she knew to be hers.  
  
The me that was I cautioned her to take great care, not to open to wide an opening, lest all the power pent up inside came rushing out in a flood that no one less than Divine could hope to control.   
  
She nodded and concentrated even more than she had been. The opening grew, but its growth slowed, until I told her no more.  
  
Buffy squirmed in her seat. Every Slayer sense was on full alert, and she ached with the need to do something. Preferably something violent. She glanced around the church. Willow and Tara were holding hands, their eyes squeezed tightly shut. Giles sat on the other side of her  
mother, silently looking straight ahead. Xander was bent over, near double, in his seat his lips moving. She could barely make out the words to the Lord's Prayer.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------  
  
We thought of a spot light, focusing the power of the Key on the evil that roiled about us.  
  
There was a gnashing and a grinding of teeth.  
  
But the evil moved away from us. It fought, sending streamers of energy, causing us to flinch when the energy struck us.  
  
The spot light became a flood light, streaming controlled energy, pushing the evil back, towards the vortex it surely must have come from.  
  
I reached into the stores of my own reserves, and added that to the stream."  
  
------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Giles," Buffy bounced in her seat. "Pray."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Prayer, look, this is a church, surely we can do that much Look, what was it that Xander said when we discussed the type of energy, Dawn had, and he said it was the kind that was released at rituals. What if it's prayer, the power of faith that she collects? Maybe we can't help  
her directly, but we can recharge her batteries. We gotta do something. It can't hurt right."  
  
You want us to pray to Dawn?"  
  
"No, not to her, but for her and Father Rosenberg."  
  
"Oh," Giles took Mrs. Summers hands into his and lowered his head. After a moment of confusion, Mrs. Summers did the same.  
  
"Willow," Buffy rushed into the seat beside her.  
  
"Pray"  
  
"What pray, but, here, I'm Jewish."  
  
"Doesn't matter, recite a psalm, something. Look, he's been trained in all the religions, I don't think it'll matter if its a Jewish prayer."  
  
"Oh Okay."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------  
  
Red streamers writhed around us as we pushed back the evil, whence it came. It slid from on side to another, but we re-focused, and continued the steady push that was depleting Dawn at a rate faster than anticipated.   
  
------------------------------------------------------  
  
Xander slid into the seat next to Buffy, who was holding her mother's hands. Riley and Willow pushed into the seat in front of them, and Lama Dorgi suddenly appeared along with sister Maria and Brother Michaud.   
  
They linked hands and bowed their heads together.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------  
  
It was nearly finished, we were dangerously depleted, and the fight would end. Already it was beginning to sputter. But a voice deep within us told us not to give up, that the help we needed would soon be here.  
  
Almost at the moment of despair, we sensed it. An orb of white energy floating in the ether beside us. We reached, with our minds, and gathered it up, restored Dawns depleted reserves, and re-focused our efforts.   
  
--------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Mom?"  
  
"Wha..." Mrs. Summers struggled a wake to see Dawn squeezed into the pew.  
  
"Dawn?...OH BABY!" Mrs. Summers enveloped her youngest daughter in a deep hug, which was soon joined by Buffy and the rest of the Scooby gang.  
  
"Mom," Dawn squeaked. "He won't wake up, and he's all covered with blood."  
  
"What was that hon?" Mrs. Summers motioned that everyone should back up, give her room.  
  
"Father Rosenberg. We pushed this big bluish red thing back until went though this swirling hole thing, and closed it, an then we started coming back like, only he didn't come back." Dawned looked at Lama Dorgi. "He's doing it isn't he?"  
  
"What's he doing?" Willow looked confused.  
  
Buffy was moving towards the Chapel as Lama Dorgi explained. She looked in to see a lance of morning light illuminating the Figure of Father Rosenberg, sitting in the direct center of the cleared area, where he had been, exactly as he had been the night before.  
  
Lama Dorgi entered the room behind her, followed by the others.  
  
"He's still breathing, but its kind of weak."  
  
"Such a thing would be draining. Perhaps all he needs is to replenish his strength. At any rate there is nothing we can do."  
  
"He's not?"  
  
"I do not believe so. We were careful not to choose his beliefs for him, and took care to see that he had all the options before him, before we allowed him to choose. As a Catholic he must believe in the sanctity of the gift of life. " He sighed. "At any rate, there is nothing we can do. Except wait."  
  
-----------------------------------------------------  
  
Buffy was the last to leave the chapel, and closed the door silently behind her. It was the beginning of a new day, and she hoped that she would not have anything much to worry about, and then she groaned.  
  
An important mid term was coming up, and she hadn't even started preparing.   
  
She wondered what Willow was doing, and hurried over to find out.  
  
"Willow," She heard Dawn say as she closed the distance between them. "It's about Father Rosenberg." Dawn sounded nervous. "It's something that I would want to know, if I were you, but I don't know if I should say anything, or wait until he can tell you, but he might not be able to tell you, but I think you really need to know."  
  
"I don't think he'll mind you telling me then." Willow winked conspiratorially. "We just won't tell him."  
  
"Okay, it's just that..."  
  
"Dawn?"  
  
"He's your brother."  
  
Buffy scurried past, maybe if she really applied herself, she could get at least half the questions right.  
  



End file.
